Disability Rights California’s Post

Open letter: Canadian government must cancel plans to use federal prisons for immigration detention "More than 80 civil society organizations, settlement agencies & religious groups in Canada have signed a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling on the government to abandon its plan to expand immigration detention into federal prisons. Dated Monday, May 13, the letter highlights the human rights harms of jailing migrants on administrative immigration-only grounds. At least 17 people have lost their lives in immigration detention since 2000; most died while incarcerated in a provincial jail. Immigration detention can trigger or exacerbate mental health conditions, a key finding reflected in the 2021 Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report “I Didn’t Feel Like a Human in There:” Immigration Detention in Canada and its Impact on Mental Health. Raise your voice: Act now to stop the federal government from using prisons for immigration detention Between July 2022 and March 2024, all Canadian provinces committed to stopping the practice of holding in their jails people detained by the Canada Border Services Agency on immigration-only grounds. Human rights advocates called on the federal government to respond by putting Canada further along path toward abolishing immigration detention. Instead, the government, in its 660-page budget implementation bill, has proposed allowing migrants and refugees in immigration detention to be held in federal penitentiaries, facilities usually reserved for people facing criminal sentences of two years or more." #MentalHealthAwareness #HumanRights #Immigration #Humanity https://lnkd.in/gDNcfq8M

🚨 **Important Update from the IMB on IRC Detention Practices in 2023** 🚨 The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) has highlighted critical issues within the Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) estate. Throughout 2023, many individuals remained detained even after their release or bail had been authorised. 😔 This troubling situation, often extending for many months, was primarily due to significant delays in securing or approving suitable accommodation. 🏠 Additionally, the IMB has raised serious concerns about the continued detention of vulnerable migrants, underscoring the need for immediate reforms to address these challenges. 💔 It's crucial that we address these systemic issues to ensure fair and humane treatment for all detainees. Let's work towards a more just and efficient system. 💪🌍 Link to report-https://lnkd.in/eP9rAkGe #Immigration #HumanRights #Justice #Reform #IMB #Detention #MigrantRights

New on the blog! Book Review: Dignity, Women, and Immigration Detention

The SMH rightly condemns Australia’s immigration detention centres. The culture of cruelty that pervades our approach to refugees and asylum seekers is on clear display in the appalling conditions. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has been calling out for years what the SMH calls the ‘glaring holes in the healthcare of detainees, particularly in mental health’, and recognizes as ‘particularly gobsmacking given the strain imposed by uncertain detention.’ This needs urgent attention, with minimum standards of healthcare a must. The real solution is, of course, to end our system of manadatory detention which sees people suffer in hopelessness and despair, subject to degrading and oppressive treatment. How much longer will we actively and deliberately choose cruelty? https://lnkd.in/gZdWsNCW

Let’s talk about impactful SCOTUS cases that shaped or were shaped by IDP’s work in the crimm-imm space! First up: INS v. St. Cyr (2001). Here’s what to know: The 212(c) waiver was a lifeline for many immigrants, allowing judges to waive the deportation of permanent residents affected by mass incarceration. The 1996 immigration laws eliminated that waiver. What the government argued: no one - not even people who were relying on the 202(c) waiver - could receive the waiver. 💡 IDP and partners fought for immigrants to be able to receive the 212(c) waiver. IDP’s amicus brief showed: 1. Criminal defense lawyers had been telling clients for decades that they could receive a 212(c) waiver if the government ever tried to deport them. 2. Immigrants relied on this advice when they decided to plead guilty during the height of mass incarceration in the 1980s and 1990s. ⚖️ The ruling: the Court agreed, holding immigrants with older convictions should still be granted. Read the amicus brief here: https://lnkd.in/g4Pv6yq7

Australia’s recent history with the United Nations’ anti-torture watchdog has been woeful. And The Guardian reports we are now at risk of being placed on a human rights blacklist alongside countries like South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. First, a routine visit in 2022 ended in international embarrassment when UN inspectors were denied access to places of detention in NSW and Queensland. Next, Australia failed to meet a crucial deadline for implementing international anti-torture treaty obligations, despite receiving an extended timeframe for compliance. Now, the Government is five months late to deliver a report on progress to improve the treatment of detainees in youth justice centres, prisons and immigration detention. The report should respond to the UN’s recommendations, provided to the Government a year ago. They include raising the age of criminal responsibility, ending use of solitary confinement on children, repealing mandatory detention for asylum seekers and fulfilling the obligation to have independent oversight of all places of detention. The UN has asked for the status of the report, and we’re pleased the Government is being held to account. Australia claims to be a good international citizen. It’s time we acted like one.

No one should ever be held in inhumane and degrading conditions. That's why a group of immigrants detained in inhumane conditions at Torrance County Detention Facility are suing ICE for certifying a sham inspection in 2022. This inspection allowed ICE to evade federal law and continue detaining immigrants at the facility, despite known ongoing violations of federal detention standards. Congress has mandated that ICE cancel its contract with any immigration detention facility that fails two consecutive overall performance evaluations, which measure a facility’s compliance with federal immigration detention standards. TCDF failed its 2021 evaluation, with inspectors citing chronic understaffing and unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. Serious violations persisted in March 2022, when the jail underwent its follow-up inspection, but ICE nonetheless gave the facility a passing rating. Learn more about this case on our website, linked in our bio.

Immigration detention reform is fraught with challenges. A recent internal review of detention centers brought renewed interest in the issues including competing economic interests, political pressures, and the need to work toward the humane treatment of detainees. In today’s Immigration Matters blog, Raymond Lahoud, Norris McLaughlin, P.A.’s Immigration Practice Group Chair, discusses efforts by the Biden administration to reform immigration detention including the progress that has been made and the challenges that remain. https://ow.ly/zQcW50PT3JL #ImmigrationLawyer #ImmigrationLaw #NorrisMcLaughlin

NEW GDP REPORT OUT NOW! Immigration Detention in Hong Kong - Severe Detention Regimes and Paltry Conditions. Key findings detailed in the report include: ●     Hong Kong SAR operates four main dedicated detention facilities: Castle Peak Bay Detention Centre, Ma Tau Kok Detention Centre, Nei Kwu Correctional Institution, and Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution. Immigration detainees can also be kept in prisons, police stations, hospital custodial wards, and juvenile centres. ●     Migrants detained in Nei Kwu and Tai Tam Gap correctional facilities are under the authority of the Correctional Services Department and are governed under the Prison Rules. ●     There is no maximum length of administrative migration-related detention; criminal prosecution of certain immigration offences can lead to prison sentences of up to three years. ●     Vulnerable groups, including children and victims of trafficking, are not protected from detention.  ●     Although the Refugee Convention is not applied in Hong Kong SAR, non-nationals can apply for non-refoulement protection—but only after they have overstayed their visa, creating a situation of “enforced illegality.” ●      In 2020, the government introduced important amendments to the Immigration Ordinance, including affirming administrative detention powers, authorising the use of weapons by immigration officers, and accelerating the removal of failed non-refoulement claimants even in cases where the applicant appeals the decision. ●   Detainees, NGOs, and politicians have criticised detention centres for inadequate conditions and alleged mistreatment of detainees. ●     Hong Kong has a detention monitoring procedure, the Justice of the Peace (JP) system, allowing individuals appointed as JPs to visit detention facilities. However, the system has been criticised for leading to punishment of detainees who criticise detention conditions to JPs. ●     In 2022, the government introduced changes to its immigration policy, including increasing the maximum length of solitary confinement to from 7 to 28 days and allowing immigration officers to conduct intimate body cavity searches at Castle Peak Bay. ●     Key human rights treaties have not been signed by China and extended to Hong Kong–including the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers. https://lnkd.in/e8VwhBSJ